\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The Official CRUSADER NO REGRET F A Q v1.0 ///////////////// This document is split into 2 parts: Section 1: About The Game Section 2: Technical Stuff For the latest information and more, experience the CRUSADER: NO REGRET web site (www.ea.com/origin). |||||||||||||||||||||||||| SECTION 1: About The Game Q: What is CRUSADER: NO REGRET? A: NO REGRET is the latest installment in ORIGIN's award-winning CRUSADER series of futuristic action games. It's a fast-paced, extremely violent, mission-based action/adventure with the most detailed graphics, versatile character control, and grisly deaths in the industry. Almost everything in the game can take visible damage and/or be destroyed. Did we mention the ferociously addictive gameplay? Q: If NO REGRET is the new game, what was CRUSADER: NO REMORSE? A: The debut title in the series and pioneer in a new breed of action/adventure games, CRUSADER: NO REMORSE, won "Action Game of the Year" awards from Computer Gaming World, Computer Games Strategy Plus, and PC Entertainment (now PC Games) magazines. Q: Who is the CRUSADER character? A: The CRUSADER is a renegade Silencer (elite corporate trooper) who has abandoned his life of brutal persuasion with the World Economic Consortium (WEC) and joined the resistance forces. In this new role as a heavily-armed saboteur, the CRUSADER infiltrates industrial complexes, star ships, space stations, penal colonies, and other compounds, destroying everything in his path, in an attempt to bring down the WEC's monopolistic empire. You play the role of the CRUSADER. Q: How is CRUSADER: NO REGRET different than Duke, Quake and all the other action games? A: The most obvious characteristic that sets CRUSADER apart from other popular action games is the 3rd-Person isometric view with 3D rendered gameplay art. Unlike 1-st person games, the 3rd-Person isometric view gives players a better angle on the action, providing enhanced gameplay strategies, more flexible character control (like rolls and dives), and fantastic level detail. We refer to it as "action form a different perspective." One other key difference between CRUSADER and other action games is that almost EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in the game can blow up. If you can see it, you can shoot it, and see visible damage results from every round fired. Once you've seen a death scene in CRUSADER: NO REGRET, you'll never be the same. Q: What improvements were made in CRUSADER: NO REGRET over the original NO REMORSE? A: The original NO REMORSE has a strong cult following, so we've received tons of feedback from our fans. Everything they liked best about the original game we either improved or added more of it in NO REGRET. Our fans loved the freedom of character control in NO REMORSE, so we added even more moves to NO REGRET, like the forward dive and the ability to scoot in any direction while crouched. Our fans were impressed with the unique weapons and the effects each had on their victims, so NO REGRET has even more weapons with more custom death effects for each one. The level detail has always been a strong point for NO REMORSE, so our artists went into a design frenzy to create twice as much art in NO REGRET with much more detail and variety than the original. The enemies in NO REMORSE were tough, but our fans wanted to see them use some of the same unique tactics as the CRUSADER, so the AI has undergone a considerable upgrade. Enemies in NO REGRET aren't just tougher, they're also a whole lot smarter. You'll see enemies hiding behind corners, using rolls and other evasive maneuvers, and acting a lot like real soldiers. Fans have commented that they thought the video cut-scenes were cool in NO REMORSE and helped tie the missions together in a suspenseful way, so NO REGRET has an enhanced video playback system that can run movies in 16-bit color. Plus, our whole audio system has been updated to include 16-bit stereo music and sound effects with Circle Surround(r) sound. NO REGRET also has new enemies, new servomechs, better traps and puzzles, more secrets and a whole lot of other features that our fans have suggested. Q: Is there a DEMO? A: The CRUSADER: NO REGRET demo will be available sometime in September, 1996. The demo will contain the entire first mission from the full game. Q: How would you describe the Weapons? A: There are 19 devastating weapons at your disposal in CRUSADER: NO REGRET. Projectile weapons include old favorites like the "Pacifist" Assault Rifle, "Conformer" Shotgun, and "Reaper" Riot Guns. You can set your opponents ablaze with the "Rico" Rocket Launcher or blow down doors and scatter body parts with the GL-303 Grenade Launcher. Some really cool new projectile weapons include the "Crystallizer" Molecular Inhibitor, which leaves frozen opponents ripe for shattering, and the "Liquefier" Catalytic Cartridge, which instantly vaporizes unshielded targets. There's a whole menu of energy weapons too, like the familiar Laser, Plasma and Pulse rifles, which electrocute, melt, and disintegrate any poor bastards that get in your way. You can peel the skin and muscle from your victims with the "Pulsar" Ultraviolet Rifle or you can reduce your opponents to a pile of bloody mush with the XP-5 "Broiler" Microwave Projector. The CRUSADER's bag of tricks also includes a full compliment of demolition toys, like trusty Detpacs, Limpet Mines and Spider bombs or try out the new Spider Mines, Pocket Bettys, Mine-Dets and Disrupters. For more on the weapons, visit "The Boiler Room" at the CRUSADER: NO REGRET web site. Q: I hear a lot about the DEATHS, what's so special? A: Almost every weapon in the game has a set of death effects that are unique to that weapon, which can make a huge difference when you consider that there are nearly 20 weapons and all deaths are 3D rendered in multiple directions/variations in SVGA. Watch as your opponents melt, broil, vaporize, dissolve, explode, freeze, shatter, and run about screaming, engulfed in flames -- all rendered in striking SVGA clarity. It's very dramatic and ads an eerie new dimension and sinister twist to the action genre. For more on the deaths, visit "The Boiler Room" at the CRUSADER: NO REGRET web site. Q: How many different moves are there for the CRUSADER in NO REGRET? A: NO REGRET has 21 different maneuvers for the CRUSADER, including all the standard run, jump and duck moves that other action game have, plus a repertoire of defensive and surprise moves like left and right rolls and the forward dive. Q: How many missions are there in NO REGRET? A: NO REGRET has 10 multi-leveled missions covering a wide range of objectives and taking place in a variety of futuristic settings. Each of the 5 unique terrain sets has a different theme, so missions on a mining base will look like mines, a space freighter mission will look like the interior of a star ship, a corporate palace looks palatial, and so on. Rooms are adorned with furniture, computer terminals, storage areas, equipment and other 3D-rendered objects to interact with. And everything is destructible. If you can see it, you can destroy it. Q: What are the Enemies like? A: Excluding turrets, traps, and neutral characters like scientists, there are more than 15 unique enemy types in NO REGRET. Nine of these are servomechs, including the Cametron "morphing mech," the Crystallizer-armed Cryoton, and the unpredictable, floor-crawling Roach. Enemy AI has been vastly improved over the original NO REMORSE. You will find enemies waiting in ambush and using the same evasive maneuvers that you use (like hiding and rolling out of the way). Q: Are there resistance fighters in the game? A: Not everyone in the game is your enemy, although most of them are indeed out to kill you. In addition to the soldiers and servomechs serving the WEC, there are also civilians, scientists and other neutral characters throughout the game. It's up to your conscience as to whether or not you want to kill them too. You will also encounter other resistance fighters from time-to-time. The resistance operatives will have important information for you and your mission. Q: What about the traps? A: You're more likely to run into ambushes when you set off the security alarms and don't deactivate them before continuing on you mission. Some traps, like wall-mounted turrets and rockets, cannot be entirely avoided, but you can spot them in advance and disable them if you're paying attention. Other traps will require you to destroy their power source before they can be disabled. You may even come across a section of floor that's weak and could collapse; perception and avoidance are you're best bet in those cases. Q: How big of a factor are puzzles? A: Puzzles come in many forms, from your basic key card panel to more elaborate lever combinations and even pass codes. Fortunately, there is usually more than one solution to a puzzle. There's often a "thinking" solution and the violent solution. Take whichever action you prefer. Q: Besides killing everyone and destroying everything in sight, what other ways can I interact with the environment in CRUSADER: NO REGRET? A: Let's see... There are alarm boxes, levers, keycard readers, knife switches, data terminals, footlockers, health stations, laser eyes, keypads, lifts, post pads, recharge stations, safes, teleporters, valves, cameras, watch stations, elevators, inventory items, and all sorts of other objects in the world to interact with. Q: What kinds of inventory items can you find and use? A: All kinds. Many of the items you find in the game have special functions that we don't want to give away in advance. When you find a new item in the game, you may want to experiment with it to discover what it really does. Some of the inventory items include, data-links, medkits, weapons & ammo, infrared sensors and shields, but there are many more as well. Q: What about Secret areas? A: There are secret areas in every mission, but we can't say too much about them, 'cause it's a secret. Q: Are there cheat codes? A: Yes. Q: How does targeting work? A: When you have someone in your sights (i.e., when you're aimed in the right direction), a targeting reticule (crosshair) appears over the target indicating that you have a clear shot. That doesn't mean the target won't move out of the way, but it indicates a clear shot at that moment. You can select between four different targeting reticules during gameplay by hitting "CTRL-R". Q: Is CRUSADER: NO REGRET an interactive movie? A: CRUSADER: NO REGRET is an action game. However, the game follows a story line, which is aided by live action and computer-rendered videos throughout the game and between missions. The videos support 16-bit color (that's up to 32,000 colors!) and are recorded in 16-bit stereo Circle Surround(r) sound. Q: Where was the live video shot? A: The live action video sequences were shot at the Studios at Las Colinas near Dallas, Texas. The elaborate video production features real sets, moving camera shots, dramatic lighting and special effects. The video clips supply plot critical information as players proceed through the game. Q: Is NO REGRET a multiplayer game? A: No, it was designed and optimized for single-player use. We're working on that, though. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| SECTION 2: Technical Stuff Q: What kind of processor do I need to play NO REGRET? A: The minimum processor requirement is an Intel486 DX4/75, but a Pentium is recommended for optimal performance. Q: How much memory (RAM) do I need to run NO REGRET? A: You'll need at least 8MB of total RAM in order to install and play NO REGRET. The game requires 6.8 MB of XMS memory, so if you have 8 MB of RAM you will likely not have enough free memory to set up a drive cache. The speed is greatly improved on a system with 16 or more MB RAM. Q: How much hard drive space do I need? A: CRUSADER: NO REGRET requires 65MB free hard drive space to install and play. Q: How fast does my CD drive need to be in order to play? A: NO REGRET requires a double-speed CD-ROM drive, but a Quad-spin CD drive is optimal. Q: What sound cards are supported by NO REGRET? A: Sound Blaster (SB) or 100% compatible, SB Pro/SB 16/SB AWE, and Ensoniq Soundscape cards are all supported natively. Many other cards will also work, as long as they are 100% compatible with the hardware mentioned above. Q: What are the video requirements to play NO REGRET? A: NO REGRET gameplay is represented in 256 color 640X480 SVGA. Movies can be played in 256 colors or 16-bit color with large and small video options. To play CRUSADER: NO REGRET, you must have a local bus or PCI video card with VESA BIOS installed. If you do not, the game will not run properly. Most video cards have a VESA BIOS, but some require a driver to provide this functionality. If you do not have VESA drivers, you will need to contact the manufacturer of your video card, or a third party vendor of a universal VESA driver like SciTech (the makers of UNIVBE). Visit SciTech's web site: http://www.scitechsoft.com Q: What types of Controllers are supported by NO REGRET? A: CRUSADER: NO REGRET supports Keyboard, Mouse and 4-button Game Pad or Joystick controls. Q: Will SMARTDRV help the performance of the game? A: Yes. At the beginning of the game, many graphics are loaded into a cache. This caching procedure continues during the game, thus a disk caching program running in the background could increase the performance of the machine. NOTE: Although SMARTDRV can improve gameplay performance, you DO NOT want to have any disk cache software running while you are installing CRUSADER: NO REGRET. Q: Will CRUSADER: NO REGRET run in Windows 95? A: The game is native to DOS and will not run in a Windows 95 environment. It is necessary to reboot your machine into MS-DOS mode; using the DOS prompt within Windows 95 will not work. You may need to create a boot disk, as described in the Install Guide, or you can create a shortcut to the game using ORIGIN's Windows 95 Gateway interface. Q: What is the ORIGIN Gateway? A: The ORIGIN Gateway is an autoplay feature for Windows 95. The ORIGIN Gateway starts up whenever you insert the CRUSADER NO REGRET CD into your machine while the Windows 95 desktop is running. The ORIGIN Gateway features a simple point-and-click interface and provides easy access to creating a shortcut or boot disk, viewing online CRUSADER fiction, browsing the ORIGIN interactive catalog, watching preview trailers of new games, and more. Q: What's the CRUSADER.CFG file and how do I use it? A: Below you will find a list of commands found in the CRUSADER.CFG file. To change game options manually, add or modify these through any DOS text editor. (If you do not understand these commands you're probably better off leaving them alone and modifying them only through the install program.) sound=x Used to turn sound on or off. x = on - ( Sound on ) x = off - ( Sound off ) music=x Used to turn music on or off. x = on - ( Music on ) x = off - ( Music off ) port=x Digital port used by the Asylum Sound System x = 0x200-0x290 - ( Sound card port ) x = 534, 608, E84, F44 ( for Ensoniq ) irq=x Sound card IRQ x = 0-15 - ( IRQ vector ) dma=x Sound card DMA x = 0-7 - ( DMA channel ) soundcard=x Sets the sound card type for the sound system. x = 0 ( None ) x = 1 ( Sound Blaster ) x = 2 ( Sound Blaster Pro ) x = 3 ( Sound Blaster 16 / AWE 32 ) x = 4 ( Ensoniq Sound Scape ) x = 5 ( Gravis Ultra Sound ) limitblasts=x Area limiting for explosions. Setting this option to "true" will limit the density of the explosion sprites (and thus make the game run faster). x = true/false mixrate=x This sets the mix rate for the sound system. The default is 22050. cdletter=x Drive letter of CD-ROM x = a-z flicpath=x Path to video. x = PATH ( ex. flicpath=\FLICS ) bigvideo=x Double sized video option x = true/false filter=x Digital filtering x = true/false animation=x Pause game animation x = 0-1 ( 0 - anims, 1 - anims paused ) mousespeed=x Mouse sensitivity x = 0-3 ( 0 being least sensitive ) musicvolume=x Digital music volume setting x = 0-48 soundvolume=x Digital sound effects volume setting x = 0-64 tune01... tune21=x Path to mission music files. (.AMF files) x = PATH to tune (ex. tune05=C:\MYTUNES\MYTUNE.AMF ) subtitles=x Video subtitles setting x = true/false frameskip=x Frame skipping level (0=none, 3=maximum) x = level (0=none, 1=skip explosion frames only, 2=skip explosion frames and frames of other NPCs, 3=skip explosion frames, other NPC frames, and your character's frames) moviehicolor=x 16-bit color for movies x = true/false lowresmovies=x Video is played in high or low resolution x= true/false ||||||||||||||||| www.ea.com/origin Copyright 1996 Origin Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.